POST COVID19 REOPENING
Questions and Answers
Question 1: Are you ready to see patients?
Yes, our office is ready. We had a well-established infection control protocol in place prior to the COVID 19 pandemic. Since then, we have implemented additional approaches to our routine.
We are ready to protect our patients’ health.
We have implemented pre-screening for all appointed patients so that anyone suspected to have COVID 19 is not coming into our facility to receive dental care until they are cleared or recovered.
We have installed air filtration units throughout the office to collect, filter and disinfect air on a continuous basis. These units are made by the most reputable and highly regarded company (Surgically Clean Air, based in Canada) for medical grade air filtration designed for surgical facilities. The molecules in the room are being circulated every 3 minutes to be filtered and disinfected (the HEPA-Rx filter, activated Carbon filter and Germicidal UV sealed chamber are the key to the high effectiveness of this unit).
We follow strict disinfection and sterilization protocols in between patients so that the room is safe for the next patient to be seated and our instruments are properly disinfected for each patient.
We try to schedule patients with enough spacing to reduce clustering in the waiting room. We also ask our patients to wait in the car until we are ready to make sure we keep social distancing.
At the end of each day, after office is closed, the whole office will be disinfected with germicidal UV-C lights according to manufacturer’s instructions to ensure the air is clean and safe for everyone.
We are also ready to protect ourselves so that we don’t spread virus from patient to patient.
From the moment you come into the office, you will see that we placed a shield in front of the receptionist to prevent possible spread of bacterial, virus and etc.
Following the guidelines and recommendations of the CDC and ADA, we wear appropriate protective gear. We also disinfect or dispose our protective gear in order to remain healthy from day to day. If we don’t feel well, we don’t come to work.
Question 2. I hear that dentistry has a high risk due to aerosol generation, is that true?
Some dental procedure generate more aerosols than others.
As to hygienists’ procedures, ultrasonic scalers generate the most aerosols. On one hand, we will keep the usage of ultrasonic scaler to a minimum; on the other hand, we will install PureVac, a special high volume suction system to remove the aerosol by over 90% when the use of ultrasonic scalers is necessary. The PureVac is in place and ready for every patient during the complete hygiene visit whenever it rises to the need of higher efficacy of aerosol removal.
As to the doctors’ procedures, they are using four handed dentistry to utilize double high volume suction to reduce the splattering and pick up most of the aerosols. The rooms are being disinfected thoroughly after each patient. This in combination with the air filtration units will make sure our rooms are ready for the next patient.
Question 3. Do you provide testing for your patients upon request?
Yes, we can provide testing for each patient who is interested in being tested for COVID19 (Sars-Cov-2 virus). This is an antigen test, meaning it only tests if someone is carrying the virus. Patient will collect sample (saliva) at home following instructions in the kit and mail it using the overnight express label provided in the kit. Results will be obtained in 24 hours after the lab receives the sample. The testing is fee-for service (only tests for Medicare patients are billable to insurance). We will order the kit for you. A testing kit is $99/kit (shipping included if you pick the kit up from us, if shipping to your address add $15). Payment in credit card will incur a 5% processing fee.
Yes, we can provide testing for each patient who is interested in being tested for COVID19 (Sars-Cov-2 virus). This is an antigen test, meaning it only tests if someone is carrying the virus.
Patient will collect sample (saliva) at home following instructions in the kit and mail it using the overnight express label provided in the kit. Results will be obtained in 24 hours after the lab receives the sample. The testing is fee-for service (only tests for Medicare patients are billable to insurance). We will order the kit for you. A testing kit is $99/kit (shipping is included if you pick the kit up from us, if shipping to your address add $15). Payment in credit card will incur a 5% processing fee.